Final Fantasy week, day 3

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We take a tour of the way you do war

With each new Final Fantasy, a tweaked battle system is revealed. Here, we consider how much each affected the series' gameplay as a whole. When most people think RPG, they think turn-based menu surfing. Final Fantasy IV finally got it right - but later games added on to it. We don't stop there - we also take into account the supporting gameplay systems that directly affect your fighting style.

5. Final Fantasy VII

The game that brought RPGs to the masses did so with a very clever evolution of the series' time-tested Active Time Battle system. Materia, which allowed you to customize each character's abilities, came to the forefront. Sure, some complained that these little mystical gems created a party of interchangeable robots, but that glosses over just how much fun it is to maximize your party's death-dealing capacities using them. Really, you can just get some incredibly crazy combinations going - and when you take into account the massive Summoned Monsters and Limit Breaks, and what they meant for the series from that point forward, you can't underestimate Final Fantasy VII 's battles.

If it weren't for a lack of innovation, Final Fantasy V might have its crack at the limelight. Final Fantasy IV brought in the Active Time Battle system, which made RPG fights fast-paced and brought a realtime element to them; Final Fantasy V copied it perfectly. The real joy here is the Job System, which allows you to raise your characters to have all of the abilities and skills that you want, and none that you don't. This flexible and engrossing system has caused the game to be a favorite among the hardcore FF fan community, and if you play the recently-released GBA remake, you'll see why. It's a symphony of choice.